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My Tuesday showing in Red Deer went sideways, now I can't decide if I was too soft or too nice
Went to look at a 1978 bungalow in Red Deer last Tuesday with a young couple, and the basement smelled like a wet dog had been living down there since spring. I pointed out the musty smell and a hairline crack in the foundation wall, told them it was probably a $6,000 fix before they even thought about moving in. They got quiet, then the husband said his dad could just patch it with hydraulic cement, and I didn't push back because I didn't want to kill the deal over a guess. Now I'm sitting here wondering if I should have been straight with them and said walk away, or if staying quiet was the right call. Any agents or buyers on here been in that spot? Do you tell them what you really see or let the home inspection do the dirty work?
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nina_hall19d ago
The part about not wanting to "kill the deal over a guess" is the thing that gets me, because that same thinking shows up everywhere, not just real estate. I see it with cars, with contractors, with doctors even. Someone gets told the honest thing and they grab onto the one cheap fix they heard about, and the person who knows better just steps back to keep the peace. The wet dog smell plus a foundation crack is not a guess though, that combo almost always means water is getting in and hydraulic cement is a band aid on a broken arm. You don't have to tell them walk away, but you can say the smell worries you more than the crack and they should get a real foundation guy in there before they fall in love with the place. Staying quiet isn't nice, it just moves the bad news down the road to the home inspector who they will trust more anyway.
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jade319d ago
Wet dog smell in a basement could just be a musty old rug or a dead mouse somewhere though. I looked at a place last year that smelled like that and the inspection came back totally clean. Cracks in old homes are pretty normal too, my parents' house has had one since the 90s and it's never leaked.
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